I have not tried looking for spark while kicking. Will do that, thanks.
So I checked the points yesterday while holding the electric starter and both were opening and closing. I did the business card trick while cleaning with electric parts cleaner. I also measured with feeler gauges and I believe I did it properly. The .012 feeler gauge seemed to slip in with little resistance on one then I used the kickstart to turn the engine and measured the other and got the same reading. Clymer manual says .012-.016 is acceptable points gap. Will definitely try to test the condenser. How do I check voltage to the points though? I tried looking up some YouTube videos and couldn't really find anything that helped me.
What did you use to clean the case covers? Mine didn't look quite as bad as yours started out, but the cleaned up version's not as bright and shiny. as yours are now. There's a coat of... something -- a film of some kind, maybe? Like a yellowed patch that's not cleaning up as well as the areas around it. Mother's Aluminum Polish is my next thought. That and a cloth buffing pad for the drill.I have a weakness for keeping these old ladies original as possible, looking at your model - it looks like you have less work laid out finding parts as it all seem to be there. Here is a pick how the bike looked when I bought it and two after I restored it. I honestly spend very little money getting it to look nice, a lot of polishing / buffing and time. Had to find side covers (non modified) airbox, carbs and exhaust. Rebuild carbs, new gaskets new oil tires and seat cover plus a few other rubber / plastic parts. Was lucky to get a brand NOS gas tank among a bunch of parts and bikes I bought, otherwise no new paint or chrome - all cleaned up.
The previous owner had plans of making a cafe racer - I feel lucky to have spoiled that attempt.
Unfortunately you are almost as far north as I’m south on the east coast otherwise I would have entertained the idea of helping it off your hands or trade you for another ‘75 have sitting around however with quiet a few missing original parts. Good luck whatever you do - did I mention “ nice find”
I use aluminum buffer sticks and a hard woven buffer wheel on my bench grinder, gradually changing to a softer wheel for the final polish. The yellow film ( I believe) is a factory coating, may a clear coat of some kind, can be hard to buffer off, may be a way to dissolve it but I haven’t found it
. Thus I buff the he’ll out of it, you can be pretty aggressive, even use nylon brush for the bench grinder to get the film off, it may make some scratches that then need to be buffered out. I have also used my vapor honer - it will give a dull appearance, but since it will be uniform it quite easy to buff up to look nice. 
I have sanded it with 600 grit wet and decreased the grit to 800, 1000, 1500 all the way to 2000 before polishing. 600 will knock the clear coat off pretty quickly. I don't recommend it, but I've even sanded it with paper coarser than 600. It's just elbow grease and patience.
